Ever Wondered How Airplanes Find Their Ways In The Sky?

Why is air travel still the safest one?

Have you ever thought about how airplanes manage to avoid each other in the sky? It might seem like there is plenty of room up there, but with up to 5,000 flights in the air over the U.S. at any given moment, the sky can be a very crowded place.

Who are the people responsible for ensuring the safety of 64 million take-offs and landings in America every year? Where do they work and just how close can planes fly to each other without crashing? It's a complicated juggling act involving thousands of staff at hundreds of control centers keeping 87,000 flights and all of their passengers and crew, safe every day.

The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) is the government body responsible for your safety in the air and on the ground at airports. From the construction of safe airports, to pilot licensing, the FAA is in charge of every aspect of civil aviation including the people who direct the planes.

How much do they Train?

Highly-trained air traffic controllers need a three-year college degree, a high enough score on the FAA pre-employment test, and a pass on the eight hour Air Traffic Standardized Aptitude Test just to get to the FAA Academy. Five months at the FAA Academy and then up to eight years on-the-job training later they become certified as an air traffic controller.

Safety Starts On The Ground

The action doesn't happen in the air, though. Flight safety begins before an aircraft ever even leaves the ground. Air traffic controllers guide planes around the airport so they can move safely between the gates and the runway.

The Best Radar System Ever

Planes Know When They Are Too Close

On top of the staff and technology in control towers, every commercial aircraft is fitted with a Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS). These systems monitor the air space directly around an airplane. If the system detects another plane that is too close, it alerts the pilot and the control tower.

Dead Reckoning

An Inertial Navigation

This form of navigation is used only by larger airplanes due to the cost of the equipment. Three sensitive gyroscopes measure changes in velocity in the three directions, and these changes are used to deduce the aircraft's position.